Hot Button Topics (religion, politics, sports)

[Chocofreak13]

i'm agreeing wholeheartedly on your second point. i think part of the solution will be to intergrate the police forces. you have 10 cops total. 2 can be white, 2 black, 2 hispanic, 2 asian, and 2 native american if they're in the area. it sounds a little kum-by-yah and corny but it's a decent solution (or at least a start) to the rampant racism and racial profiling present in our justice system.

as for the first part, plenty of cops in Europe don't carry guns, and they seem to do just fine. maybe taking their example may help a bit....?

[Nichi]

Indeed; that idea of having a more diverse group of cops seems like a good idea to me

[Chocofreak13]

it's a start, at least. the war on drugs isn't helping either.

on an unrelated note, this also seems relevant to peoples' interests:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/escape-duggarville-good-christian-wife/#.VHRKLdhw5sY.facebook

[Nichi]

Just...wow. That sounds like a more extreme version of what I went through; it wasn't to that extent, thankfully, but it was still very rough, with plenty of damage due to the effects of the environment I grew up in (Homeschooled, only contact with the outside world was at church, was punished for attempting to dress like a girl, and was looked down upon for being "different" from the other boys my age). To be honest, if it wasn't for the internet, I may have never woken up to the realities of my situation and ultimately discovered who I really am.

Now, I'm in a different but still very harsh environment; where I have to lie to protect myself, as actually stating the truth of the matter would likely end very badly for me.

[svx]

Wow, I've got a lot to catch up on! Full disclaimer: just my opinions, I'm always willing to change them 'cuz I'm awesome, I never mean any offense to anyone.

@Medicine topic:  I'm 100% certified clinically depressed, but I refuse to take meds for it. My family generally runs to the medicine cabinet if they even so much as cough (and I wish it was an exaggeration!) but I try my best to avoid taking medicine when it isn't necessary. I don't trust flu shots because every I've ever had one, I've gotten sick, and every time I haven't had one, I've come out just fine. Likewise, depression meds just make me feel like a zombie and I can't think, my reaction time goes way down, etc, etc. I just can't trust medication at this point because through trial-and-error, I've decided it hurts me more than helps me.

@Alcohol topic:  I love booze! I usually know when I've "had enough" though so I don't typically overdo it. Even when I do, I'm one of those "happy drunks" that rather than fighting/getting emotional/etc, I just come up with jokes and stuff. My mantra in life is to be what I consider to be "a good person". That said, my dad's side of the family seems to be filled with alcoholics. I don't like dealing with them. I don't like people that drink when they can't "handle their liquor" - for instance, when they say the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, and over, slurring their speech and being just... stupid...  I don't do that when I get drunk. I laugh and make jokes and I've never once felt like I've lost control of myself. Alcohol just affects people differently, I guess. So I love booze, but I don't like people who let the booze rule them.

@Ferguson topic:  I intentionally tried not to keep up on it at all, even though I live in Missouri! I'm pretty biased. I've been harassed by police in the past and I recognize that I absolutely, seriously do not like police, no matter what. That aside, I think the whole situation was handled stupidly, especially with the verdict being released at night and all that talk about "we have health facilities prepared" etc. Just stupid. To quote my mom, "the older I get, the less tolerance I have for stupidity." I'll just leave it at that, because I wouldn't want to be on a jury for this. Either way, I'm sad anytime someone dies, no matter who they are. We're all just humans; everyone has their own hopes and dreams and goals and things they love, so it's sad, but the same thing as Ferguson happens every day, just not as loudly. So it's sad.

@Duggarville topic:  I didn't read all of Choco's links, but I read some of it and Pent's comment so I hope I'm on the right track here! Probably way off, but... As far as religion goes, I'm happy for anyone who believes in something, no matter what it is. I'm annoyed by people who zealously state their deeply personal beliefs as if it's "necessary" for people to believe in them along with them. I went to a Christian school when I was younger and I give them credit for teaching me a lot of things, but I wasn't really indoctrinated properly I guess. I wound up becoming someone with my own beliefs fundamentally different from what most religions teach. In fact the only people I've ever heard about that entirely share my beliefs (without any extras + exceptions) are people who've had near-death-experiences. My religion is basically tolerating people, and that "love" is the only thing that matters. That's all it is.

As far as the Duggarville story goes, I don't like it when people are taken advantage of, abused, etc, especially in the name of religion. Some people take religion too far and make it the center of their lives, and once they do it, (imo) they sometimes wind up "wanting more" out of it so they certainly find ways to "fill in the cracks" to make up ways to explain and deal with every situation in life. It sounds fine, but then you might realize that "filling in the cracks" entails altering the way they interact with people, tolerate people, and deal with people. If they filled in the cracks with supremely extreme ideals, then they might become dangerous to be around.

From what I read (and again I didn't read the whole article), it seems like the cracks were filled in completely with dangerous ideals in this case. Hope I'm not entirely off topic on this one, but for some reason I just couldn't make it through the article... :p

[Chocofreak13]

eh, it was a pretty long article. i actually took a break in the middle (but that was to go to the ER), so i get what you're saying.

also, i agree on Ferguson. this is much more common than people would like to think, and are shocked to learn. i think part of ending the problem is drawing attention to ALL cases of police brutality and institutionalized racism, rather than just the super-extreme/super-public ones. :\

[Simonorged]

@Fergison: How many of you watched the verdict?
the creep didn't need to die, the cop should have been carrying a tazer.
look at the evidence and don't listen to angry emotion filled rumors
and for fucks sakes think for yourselves

There is a war against cops, people hate cops.
that hate turns into reckless abandonment on the park of every rebel with an anger issue to attack and disrespect police officers who are sworn to protect them.
Sorry but no, if someone is going to try and beat me over the head and try to steal a lethal weapon from me then I am going to definitely pop that mother fucker in the head with it.

the FACTS are this, young male goes into a convenience store and steals a pack of cigars, that part was caught on tape, this so called innocent going as far as to push the teller around. it was either the teller or a customer called the police.
From there three police vehicles came and blocked the street, blocking both directions of traffic as well.
brown attacked the police officer mentioned and punched him in the face, images of the bruises are common knowledge and available to the public, 12 shots were fired, but only four were counted for.

one grazing against his thumb (Close range)
one grazing the top of his head(Close Range)
one that was found lodged in the door(I think)
and one directly into the head. (again close range)

several of the 'witnesses' were false, following the principle of childish rumors, most people just repeating what they heard. playing a big old game of telephone.

So in this case, I don't blame the cop.

I blame the selfish gimme attitude of 'I'm always right'

the police officer acted in self defense and is now being punished for staying alive.

Way to go America for making a monster out of a protector and a hero out of a thug... again.

[Bella]

Today, some fine Tumblr folks managed to harass a comic artist into quitting and pulling her webcomic off the internet because it was set in Japan and she's not Japanese. I didn't follow this comic but it looked quite beautiful and as though the artist put a lot of love into it. She'd apparently lived in Japan for a time and was striving to make the comic inclusive and free of any stereotypes or fetishism. Still, it wasn't enough for the people who attacked her.

>be tumblr
>complain that white people aren't writing enough PoC characters
>be tumblr
>complain that white people are writing PoC characters
??????

ETA: Oh fuck, it was by the author of Princess Princess, one of the cutest little webcomics I've ever seen. I thought the art style was familiar but i couldn't place it...

Now I'm fuckin' pissed. Both at the people who attacked her AND the artist for caving into their harassment. These people shouldn't be given the time of day.

[Chocofreak13]

AUGH NO NO NO PRINCESS PRINCESS' ARTIST NEEDS TO BE MADE A PRINCESS

WHY FUCKING TUMBLR WHY

[Nichi]

>Tumblr
There's your problem :\

But, yeah; it's sad that someone puts a lot of love into a project only for some jerk to stomp on it, not because of the quality of the project, but based on the skin color, sexual orientation, or gender identity of the person writing it.

[winduko]

This is why Tumblr can't have nice things.

"Oh noes! Someone whose native language isn't Japanese screwed up on Japanese! DRIVE THE FIEND AWAY FROM HERE!"

With that kind of logic, we should drive away all people whose native language isn't English who fuck up with English. Obviously, we wouldn't do that.

Representation is a huge part of the reason why my headcanon is that the Windows-tans are Japanese, and no one can convince me otherwise. The other reason is that some characters smell of cultural appropriation if they aren't Japanese.

I don't mind being corrected for a legitimate mistake by an actual person of the marginalized group, considering that I have fucked up when writing characters of marginalized groups that I actually belong to. You learn from mistakes. That is how all humans learn, is it not?

>Tumblr
There's your problem :\

I loled.

[Bella]

I'll never be able to understand it, people on tumblr beg for diversity in the media (including asking white people to include more racial diversity in their works) but when a popular webcomic artist decides to make a piece cast mostly with Japanese folks it suddenly becomes racism.

I don't think they're satisfied with representation, they just want to be the constant victim and harass anyone with whom they don't identify 100%.

[winduko]

I'll never be able to understand it, people on tumblr beg for diversity in the media ... but when a popular webcomic artist decides to make a piece cast mostly with Japanese folks it suddenly becomes racism.

This seems to be a recurring problem. I know I've seen you talk about how feminists both want women in STEM fields, but at the same time they don't because "too many men."

And in both cases, it is stupid as hell.

Also, does that mean any OS-tan fanfic starring Windows-tans that I write is automatically racist? To those people who harassed her, probably.

(including asking white people to include more racial diversity in their works)

I am plenty happy to comply with this request. It's the least I could do.

I don't think they're satisfied with representation, they just want to be the constant victim and harass anyone with whom they don't identify 100%.

This kind of bullshit is the reason why I try to be, at the very least, a decent SJW. I try not to do that kind of thing, because no matter what,

Hell, I purposefully identify with controversial terms to attempt to improve their connotation. I'm a proud feminist, and a proud SJW. After all, at the end of the day, those words do describe me, and their scary connotations cannot convince me otherwise.

[Chocofreak13]

there's gonna be hell to pay if Ace's High gets popular. xD

i posted an ask to their tumblr saying that there are people out there who love their stuff and to say "fuck the critics". hope the little nugget of support at least makes them smile. ;^;

and it looks like something i would have LOVED reading, too....

[Nichi]

@Duko: Indeed on using a term in spite of negative connotations. I mean, the symbols for both major US political parties spawned from people making fun of them, but rather than try to downplay it, they instead fully embraced it and spun it around to be positive -w-